Okay, while I’ll admit the thought of being able to download the latest movies and watch them, in your home, any time of the day or night thanks to stuff like Netflix and Blockbuster, and TV shows thanks to Hulu, plus any of a dozen less legally clear alternatives, is a massive slice of fried awesome, it’s not a huge surprise that the internet service providers don’t agree.
See, if people can just get whatever they want from the internet, well, then people are basically paying one price for all their entertainment needs. Suddenly, media companies take a nosedive and the ISPs are left running a massively backlogged information superhighway. So sensing their opportunity to take THEIR pound of flesh, most of the big providers are already engaged in proactive bitching and moaning about how hard it is to keep all this infrastructure up and running and why, in order to survive, they MUST start gouging their customers by requiring them to pay based on their usage.
You think I’m being funny there, but I’m not. Check this out:
So the ISPs are eyeing metered usage as a new tactic. Time Warner got as far as running an experiment in Texas and was considering expanding it to other cities until it was beaten back by consumer advocates and Congress, where a bill banning metered usage was introduced. But AT&T has implemented usage-based pricing in Texas and Nevada, Verizon is threatening to do the same, and Comcast has imposed a usage cap.
So can we continue to get all we can use internet? Or will we soon be facing massive price hikes for literally every second spent online? Only time will tell.
Cisco unveils another potential gadget that should allow you to save movies via USB device. The FlipShare TV is a three-piece package which makes use of a software to transfer movies via USB from a computer for possibly playing them on a standard TV set. Thought that last part wasn’t mentioned, the pictures below perhaps best explain the purpose for these interface buttons and jacks. No word on pricing and availability yet but at least you know it is coming after getting FCC approval.
You didn’t expect Netflix to miss out on all those Wii consoles out there, did you? The company is already streaming movies to the Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation should be ready to offer you support for Netflix videos in November.
According to leaked information Netflix is currently working on video streaming for the Wii and it should be all available by the end of the year. A launch before Christmas isn’t guaranteed as Netflix might be waiting for Nintendo to unveil the Wii HD which could happen sometime early 2010.
If you want cheap streaming media entertainment, the money is geared towards Netflix members and Amazon Video on Demand users who are enjoying this privilege through the use of cheap Roku media players. Now Roku broadens the package by offering two new HD streaming media players with the the Roku-HD-XR ($130) and the Roku SD ($80). Both are sure to fit into one’s budget, media players that should satisfy the streaming video entertainment and keep the costs of home entertainment at affordable levels.
Just a couple of days ago we told you how Netflix is going to bring its streaming service to a new gadget out there. As suspected it proved to be a game console. And it’s not the Xbox 360! It looks like Netflix has partnered up with Sony and the PS3 will also be able to let you watch Netflix movies. All you need is a Netflix account and a PlayStation Network account which happens to be available for free.
The service will be available starting with next month so make sure you get ready for it. You’ll need a Blu-ray disk from Netflix in order to be able to access its library until a software update for the PS3 becomes available.
Disney is going to take a whole new approach to DRM. The company is going to offer a new feature called the Keychest which is apparently going to let you enjoy your content anywhere you want. Nothing is certain yet but Keychest will probably let you enjoy a movie on any device and you might even be able to play the content on more than one device at a time. What do you think, does that sound interesting enough? Hopefully others will follow this Keychest concept in the near future.
We’ll get back with more news about the whole buy once view anywhere concept as soon as it becomes available. The technology should be unveiled sometime next month so until then you’ll just have to deal with more DRM content.
We still don’t know what the mysterious device is but according to Netflix’ CEO Reed Hastings, the company is getting ready to make Netflix streaming available to a new gadget. The thing in question has a “material installed base” so can we assume that we’re talking about a console? Netflix streaming is supposed to be an Xbox exclusive but does that mean that PlayStation support is out of the question?
And just in case you’d like to be able to use Netflix services in other countries too then you’ll be happy to find out that Netflix is considering expanding internationally next year. Naturally we’re talking about Netflix’ streaming service. Sending DVD to other countries is out of the question!
So I’m still hearing dark muttering out of Camp General Electric, which indirectly owns Hulu, that they need to start making people PAY for this stuff. But they’re considering a whole lot of different plans, including one I actually suggested a few months back.
After reading Chris’s piece over the concept, my own idea suddenly took on a stark new importance. Why is Hulu not getting more involved with advertising if it wants to boost its revenues? They’re talking in that direction, but nowhere near as aggressively as they should.
“I know [Hulu is] looking at any number of things, like adding inventory (more advertising) or creating a subscription model with different windows.”
More advertising. That’s your ticket right there. Frankly, I’ve long believed that internet advertising models are WILDLY divorced from reality. Pay per click? Excuse me? No. You don’t pay a newspaper or a magazine or a TV station based on the number of people who come into the store after the ad. No. You pay a RATE based on viewership numbers. Higher the viewers, higher the ad bill. You don’t like the results, you go elsewhere AFTER you cut the check.
But Hulu’s pretty popular as it sits. If it can present more ads, or bigger ads, to the wide audience that shows up for free Hulu TV, well, then why not? There’s how you make your money. And if a big name like Hulu can help lead Internet advertising AWAY from the pay-per-click model and into a model more in line with the rest of the advertising industry, then what we have here is a whole new paradigm. Frankly, the world is moving to the Internet anyway–newspapers are shutting their doors, magazines are fleeing to their web sites and dumping their paper equivalents, Kindle is the new bookstore.
Let’s get Internet advertising to a respectable state for all web sites.
This is not a thought that had occurred to me, myself.
If you’ve been here a while, you already know that I went on an extended diatribe a while back about how streaming wouldn’t kill DVD in under five years for a whole panoply of reasons. In case you’re new, you can find that article right here. But one wrinkle I hadn’t thought of that I just read about is that streaming video just might kill off Blu-ray.
See, here’s the interesting part. Streaming video is on par with Blu-ray in terms of quality. Most of the people who would be interested in Blu-ray technology are early adopters, and most early adopters live in urban settings where they’re most likely to be able to get their hands on the new stuff. They’re also most likely to have the highest speeds of internet access available, and without download restrictions or limitations.
Thus, the people most interested in Blu-ray technology are also the people most likely to be interested and have the necessary infrastructure available to engage in streaming video. Now why would you get a Blu-ray disk delivered to you, or buy one, when you can simply stream the content directly to your TV?
I can’t think of a reason either. Meanwhile, the people who are the least interested in Blu-ray are enjoying their DVD libraries, not caring about Blu-ray, and couldn’t get streaming if they wanted it anyway.
Are you ready for a new Home Theater in a Box solution? LG just happens to have a new HTIB for you, the HB954SP. The device features a 5.1-channel sound system, 1,000 watts of power, five oval drivers, a subwoofer, a BD-Live Blu-ray player, a couple of HDMI inputs and even a dock ready to take in your iPod or iPhone. Other specs include 1080p upscaling of DVDs, touch sensitive controls, USB and Ethernet ports and an optical audio input. As always, the press release doesn’t include a price for this HTIB but LG plans to launch it in November. Only a few weeks left…
Ooooh boy. Well, folks, if there’s anything you wanted to see on YouTube you may want to go there now and watch, because it looks like the lawsuit Viacom’s bringing against them is about to blow wide open.
Check THIS out:
In addition, internal YouTube e-mails indicate that YouTube managers knew and discussed the existence of unauthorized content on the site with employees but chose not to remove the material, three sources with knowledge of the case told CNET. The e-mails, according to the sources who asked for anonymity because of the ongoing litigation, surfaced during an exchange of information between the two sides of the legal dispute. They are one of the cornerstones of Viacom’s case, as well as that of a separate class action lawsuit filed against Google and YouTube by a group of content owners, the sources said. The group includes a European soccer league and a music-publishing company.
And this torpedoes YouTube’s defense. It was one thing for YouTube to have no idea that the content was getting posted. It was another to know and be working on it. It was something entirely different to know and do nothing about it, which is what those documents seem to show.
YouTube, and through them, Google, is about to have a seriously bad time fending off Viacom’s attack. But YouTube’s defense may not be for naught after all–see, they have one excellent point backing them up: all these people uploading copyrighted content…some of them are the ACTUAL OWNERS of the copyright. Viacom’s doing the uploading in some cases. So how can YouTube ever be expected to know the difference between Viacom’s own uploads and uploads from some guy who converted his VHS collection into MP4 and uploaded it himself?
Better safe than sorry though, folks–best get your video fixes while they’re there to be got.
Coming soon to a Hulu near you–hand over your credit card number to watch?
It’s a downright scary proposition that Hulu may someday go the way of Napster and the like and start demanding payment, but it’s a possibility, according to recent moves by Comcast to acquire a stake in Hulu.
It only makes sense, really–if your options are between watching content from Syfy or Food Network or the like free on Hulu or with pay on Comcast or a similar cable or satellite provider, your first choice will probably be whatever doesn’t require you to pay. This is just basic math and economics coming together to righteously pound Comcast.
So Comcast, in turn, figures that if you can’t beat ‘em, your next logical step is to buy ‘em out and make them dance to your pay-tv tune like so many puppets.
But then, if you have to pay to watch Hulu, what’s the point of having it in the first place? This means, of course, that Comcast’s investment will collapse like a toothpick structure being used as a jack for a Cadillac Escalade.
Who said that a tiny netbook can be a part of your theater? Remember, it’s not the size that matters but the motion of the ocean, not that I’ve heard that line myself. What I mean to say is that it looks like NVIDIA’s and Adobe’s joint efforts have finally paid off. The video above shows 720p Flash video coming from a netbook. The netbook that does GPU-accelerated 720p video happens to be the ION-powered HP Mini 311 but don’t get all too excited right away. The technology behind it will be available only next year so you’ll have to wait a while before you start streaming videos from your little netbook..
NETGEAR has launched a new all-in-one set top box for people investing in home theater entertainment with the Digital Entertainer Live. With this new compact all-in-one set top box, people can now enjoy streaming Internet videos and playing home media right in their very own homes.
The NETGEAR EVA2000 is an easy to use set top box which you can simply connect to your TV sets to enjoy videos from video sites such as YouTube and Roxio CinemaNow people normally access via a standard laptop or desktop.
The EVA2000 Digital Entertainer Live is now available at leading retailers in the U.S. for $149.99. Worldwide availability of the Digital Entertainer Live is planned for the coming months.
Samsung’s recently announced that its Blu-Ray players will offer support for streaming video, like that of YouTube. Now, that by itself may not mean a whole lot–is it really that great that we’ll be able to watch some moron take a header off his roof on a drunken dare while his equally drunken buddies film it? But where it really shines is in its future implications. As digital distribution increases, it’ll be nice to have one unit in the house that goes from Blu-ray, the current top standard, to streaming video, the EVENTUAL top standard.
However, what’s nice for the consumer is seldom nice for the corporation, and this is no difference. It’s entirely possible Samsung may have hoisted itself by its own petard on this one. See, they’ve basically handed over the entire next ten, twenty years of development or so to the consumer. Who needs a new player when this one will do literally everything you’re likely to need for the next couple decades?
It’s a great idea for us, but it’s not so hot for Samsung–something I find myself unable to be that upset about.
Samsung Electronics adds another welcome feature for its line of Blu-ray players with the addition of the YouTube service for select Blu-Ray player models. Owners of the BD-P1600, BD-P3600 or BD-P4600 Blu-ray players will now be able to enjoy user-generated content on YouTube through uploading the value-added service at no extra charge.
Once connected to the Internet, owners of the said Samsung Blu-ray players can access YouTube with a simple press of a button on the remote control from the main screen. Once connected, users can browse through available videos from the YouTube site as you would on a standard PC or laptop.
Good, says I–maybe that means they’ll start leaving their regular content alone!
Look, it’s no secret that ever since Google bought YouTube they’ve been trying frantically to figure out how to monetize the silly thing. After all, how can you get a cut of a video of some guy jumping off the roof of his house? And just because it’s got lots of traffic doesn’t mean advertisers are terribly interested, either. Who really wants their ad to go up alongside the charming thirty second epic “Watch Me Pull Out My Blackheads Part 2“? and just in case you were wondering, yes, that IS a real video. It’s not for the squeamish, either–you’ve been warned.
But they may finally have something with the idea of turning their mass of traffic into the world’s largest online video store. Jeff describes it really well in his article on the subject located here.
This is awesome, of course, but again, the serious problems come into play, like net access and computer capability. As long as the massive disparities exist in internet access, speeds, and usage levels exist, you can forget about this ever being much more than a small sideshow for the disc market.
But the framework is being laid, and I do hope to see a day in which any movie you want is available instantly, on demand.
Yesterday we told you that LG Netcast HDTVs would now be able to stream content from VUDU. Well, it looks like Mitsubishi is also jumping on board haing recently announced that they too will begin shipping VUDU ready TVs.
This line of VUDU ready TVs is called the Diamond Unisen collection and will include 18 speakers (as you can see above) that will make for out of the box Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound compatibility. The sizes range from 46-inches to 52 and will feature WiFi and Ethernet for said VuDU streaming.
Mitsubishi says that these sets are expected to retail in the range of $2,600 - $3,100 when they hit store shelves.
It’s called Ziln, ladies and gentlemen, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why it’s called that.
But Ziln does do something very interesting; it provides an array of programming choices all in streaming video. It includes seven full-on New Zealand channels, as well as fourteen news and business channels, including Al-Jazeera, all piped in through set-top boxes.
It’s designed to provide an alternative to mainstream New Zealand television, and it’s the kind of thing that could definitely take off. In order to kill a streaming network, you’re pretty much going to have to either shut down the site from which the stream originates or you’ll have to shut down the entire internet. And once you do THAT, well, all hell’s going to break loose, make no mistake about that.
Anyway, this is a great move for New Zealanders, who apparently have the internet access and bandwidth to handle a streaming network. Who knows where such a development will lead from there?
Okay, while I’ll admit the thought of being able to download the latest movies and watch them, in your home, any time of the day or night thanks to stuff like Netflix and Blockbuster, and TV shows thanks to Hulu, plus any of a dozen less legally clear alternatives, is a massive slice of fried awesome, it’s not a huge surprise that the internet service providers don’t agree.
